What to know
- U.K.-born illustrator Jemma Chapman moved to Toronto in March 2025 and began drawing tiny, stamp-sized illustrations of the city while searching for work in architecture.
- Encouraged by friends, Chapman launched Toonie Stamps, a project selling affordable miniature prints that celebrate Toronto landmarks and Canadian culture.
- Her artwork quickly went viral on social media, with many viewers asking to buy the small prints designed to make art more accessible to everyday people.
- Chapman now sells the $2 prints through custom vending machines, including one at Golden Horseshoe BBQ, and another planned for Toronto’s First Post Office.
Jemma Chapman wasn’t born in Canada, but she’s gone viral since moving to Toronto, for selling miniature prints that highlight the city.
Chapman originally moved to the city from the U.K. in March 2025, hoping to find a job in architecture. While looking, she spent her free time drawing different locations across the city as she explored her new home.
While initially made just for herself, Chapman told Now Toronto that she decided to take the leap in selling her art when her friends told her how great it was.
“They were small, stamp-size illustrations documenting my time in Canada as a newcomer. They were never meant to be for everybody,” Chapman said. “I showed a few people in passing some of the designs during the summer last year, and people said, these are really cool. You should sell them.”
Then, despite some hesitation, Toonie Stamps was born.
“Toonie Stamps is a community focused, accessible art project that aims to allow people to explore Toronto through my tiny prints,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if [selling them] was something I wanted to do. I was very focused on trying to find a job in my profession and towards the end of the year, I just got so beaten down by trying to do that and the lack of response I got from trying to find a job, I just thought, ‘What’s the harm in putting this project on the internet?’”
Chapman said her first few videos on social media quickly gained traction. Soon, multiple people were asking if they were able to buy her prints.
@no.chill.jem About me and my art. Eight months ago I moved from the UK to Canada more specifically Toronto. When I moved I decided I wanted to document my experiences in this new country and a creative way which has led me to develop a series of stamps documenting different things I found within the city. I have shown these for a few people and they encouraged me to share them with a wider audience so please enjoy and follow along if you’re interested to find out what I do next with my work. #art #torontolife #newcomer #artist #artistsoftiktok ♬ Chill Kitty (Lofi) – The Machinist Beats
“Very quickly, people were like, ‘Hey, can I buy your pieces?’ Which is crazy. I still don’t think I still comprehend that, but I then spent some time thinking about how I could produce art in a way that felt ethical and right for me,” she said. “I think a lot of art is not accessible for the average person, and so that’s where toonie stamps, in terms of the brand and the kind of these tiny prints being sold, came from.”
From Canadian culture to Toronto landmarks, these 5.5cm by 9.3cm sized prints have something for everyone.
“It was a way to provide the average person with the ability to own art and kind of have that collective specialist kind of element of it and what’s nice is it just takes for one person to resonate with one design, and they’re kind of interested.”
Since beginning to sell her art in December, Chapman has also installed a small vending machine at Golden Horseshoe BBQ on Dupont St and Christie St, where residents around the city can purchase a print for $2.
“It’s a project that’s taken on a life of its own that I never really expected,” Chapman said.
She added the vending machine portion of her art was something she was still trying to figure out.
“I’m still kind of processing what it is and where it will go, and what I want from it as an artist and as a person and as a community focused endeavor.”
Chapman will be installing her second vending machine at Toronto’s First Post Office, a historical museum located on Adelaide St E.
She says she is currently a one-woman show, sourcing Excel Gum vending machines mainly from Facebook Marketplace, and remodelling them herself.
She hopes to install one more vending machine somewhere in the city, allowing for three permanent spots where residents can collect her work. Additionally, she plans to bring another one with her on the road whenever she attends an art event.
Chapman says she also has a few more print drops coming out, with one specific to International Women’s Day, showcasing Toronto Women’s sports teams, as well as a food-specific drop in April.
Chapman admitted that despite her newfound success, she said she still finds it hard to call herself an artist.
“The fact that they’ve taken time out of their day to buy [my art] or go to my machines and or my shop and spend their hard earned money on something I’ve created is pretty cool and still a little crazy, but the outpouring of support from people, people messaging me and kind of resonating with the project and telling me anecdotal stories of their experience and referencing to a memory sparked by the stamp, is really, really cool,” she said. “I never expected that.”
